Google goes bullish on India, announces country-specific products

In its bid to bring more and more people online in India, tech giant Google on Tuesday unveiled a slew of products like Google Station and YouTube Go to make it easier for the billion-plus population get connected to the internet faster and better.

At the second "Google for India" event in New Delhi which coincided with the search giant's 18th birthday, the company announced a public Wi-Fi platform called Google Station that will connect public places like malls, railway stations, bus stops and hangouts like cafes and universities, the company said.

"Every second, three Indians come online and we have to ensure that the experience is wonderful and relevant for them. But the next billion is very different from the first billion and by building products for these users were are preparing for how the world will use tech in the coming years," Ceasar Sengupta, Vice President of Product Management at Google, told reporters here.

According to John Giannardrea, Senior Vice President (Search) the company has been making progress in localising Google Search with the introduction of machine learning.

"Google is now capable of translating 100 languages and 12 of these are from India," he added.

Amit Fulay, Product Lead for communication apps Google Duo and Google Allo, said India and the US have most number of Duo users and Allo has seen a tremendous response in India.

Google Allo is a new smart messaging app that helps users make plans, find information as well as express with ease, all within the chat.

Packed with innovative features including smart reply, options for sharing photos, emojis and stickers, Google Allo makes it easier for users to respond quickly and keep the conversation moving, even when one is on the go.

Fulay said Google Assistant, which is currently available only in English in India, would be available in Hindi later this year.

Announcing new features in Chrome, Rahul Roy Chowdhury, VP (Chrome), said that new product now saves data, have offline capabilities and has more accurate content discovery.

Chrome can now work on 2G data connection. It has a new space for downloaded content including web pages and videos. Chrome now offers users more personalised suggestions in new tab.

Johanna Wright, Vice President (Product Management) at YouTube, announced YouTube Go which has an easy user interface, works on low connectivity, cuts cost in data usage and offers personalised suggestions to the users.